Born at Brockville, Ontario on 6 June 1858, the eldest son of James Smart, he was educated at the public schools & C. L. Inst., Woodstock, Ontario. He came to Manitoba in the winter of 1880 and worked until July 1881 in the hardware firm of Horsman and Company of Winnipeg. He then moved to Brandon where he had a hardware business until September 1886.

He served as a Brandon City alderman from 1882 to 1883, and Mayor from 1885 to 1886. In the latter year, he was appointed to the Western Judicial District Board of Manitoba. In 1887, he was elected to the provincial legislature as the Liberal representative for Brandon in the government of Thomas Greenway, where he served as Minister of Public Works. After a second term as Brandon mayor ended in 1896, he served as federal deputy Minister of the Interior under Clifford Sifton. In 1902, he served as Administrator of the Yukon Territory. He resigned in 1903 citing ill health.

In June 1883 at Prescott, he married Elizabeth F. Jones,with whom he had seven children: five sons and two daughters. One of his sons was James Smart.

He died at Montreal on 3 May 1942, after several years of ill health, and is commemorated by Smart Street in Winnipeg.

Sources:

A Political Manual of the Province of Manitoba and the North-West Territories by J. P. Robertson, Winnipeg: Call Printing Company, 1887.